When I was young, my father remarried. Growing up this meant that I had to be more precise while I talked to my friends when I said “mom” because I had two and they never knew which one I was talking about. This also meant that growing up with my stepfamily made me feel like I was kind of an outsider looking in. They never really treated me different, I just knew that I was.

I was raised by my stepmom and for a while it was just her while my father joined the military. When I say mom, just know that this is who I am talking about. This is who raised me and this is who I consider to be my mom. She always did/does a ton for me and the family.

My stepmom became such a huge figure in my life that after I turned 18 I planned an adult adoption. She is now, legally, my parent. She was always my parent before that though. My coworkers and my assistant manager were all in on the surprise to tell her that I had the adoption papers. My father was in on it and so were my grandparents.

Stepfamily day is a day of celebration and a day that is beautiful for joined families. I am lucky that I had my step mom growing up and now she is legally my mother